Gee's Bend Quilters - A National Treasure

Innumerable amounts of money have been and continue to be made off the art produced by the Gee’s Bend quilters . Now coming out into the light are details about how very little of it these national treasures have received.

An article published in the June 5, 2007 issue of the Press-Register announced the lawsuit filed by Annie Mae Young against Tinwood Ventures and others:

Gee’s Bend Quilters Claim Big Rip-Off
http://www.al.com/news/press-register/index.ssf?/base/news/1181035097167800.xml&coll=3

Tiny URL: http://tinyurl.com/2fho5j

Published in today's (June 15, 2007) Press Register, an extensive article gives more details:

Gee's Bend: A Fight for Rights
http://bama.live.advance.net/news/press-register/index.ssf?/base/news/1181899233121920.xml&coll=3&thispage=1

Tiny URL: http://tinyurl.com/39f3kx

For more information about the Gee’s Bend quilters:

Fabric of Their Lives – Smithsonian Magazine http://www.smithsonianmagazine.com/issues/2006/october/geesbend.php

Quilters of Gee’s Bend – 60 minute audiocast – June 3, 2005
http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2005/06/20050603_b_main.asp

The Quilts of Gee’s Bend – NPR audiocast – February 4, 2003
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=970364

The Quilts of Gee’s Bend – PBS Streaming video – July 1, 2003
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/entertainment/july-dec03/quilts_07-01.html

Quilts of Gee’s Bend Catalogue – Images of 61 of the Gee’s Bend quilts
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/other/geesbend/explore/catalog/slideshow/index.htm

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Article (2000) about Mary Lee Bendolph by J. R. Moehringer of the Lost Angeles Times – August 22, 1999
http://www.pulitzer.org/year/2000/feature-writing/works

The Quilts of Gee’s Bend in Context – Auburn University
http://auburn.edu/academic/other/geesbend/home.html

Freedom and Order: The Masterpieces of Gee’s Bend
http://www.aestheticrealism.net/Quilts-Gees-Bend-AB.html

Drop the Needle
http://www.thecoast.ca/1editorialbody.lasso?-token.folder=2007-05-03&-token.story=150495.113118&-token.subpub=

The Quilts of Gee’s Bend – Tinwood Ventures website
http://www.quiltsofgeesbend.com/

From Museum to Housewares: Marketing Gee’s Bend Quilts
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A13948-2004Feb27¬Found=true

Interview with Bill Arnett – Alabama Public Television
http://www.aptv.org/AS/GeesBend/QuiltmakersTranscripts/billarnett.asp

Quilts of Gee’s Bend – videoclip
http://www.centerforthequilt.org/specialfeatures/quiltsofgeesbend.html

2-Minute Vidcast Preview of The Quiltmaker’s of Gee’s Bend 60-Minute DVD Produced by Alabama Public Television
http://www.aptv.org/AS/GeesBend/Preview.asp

Where Quilting Becomes Art – Barbara Sloan
http://www.edpa.org/docs/partners-magazine/w06art6.pdf

The Culture of Civil Rights: “Now They Call it Art”
http://www.voicesofcivilrights.org/civil5_gees_bend.html

The Power of Color in the Art World – This is a book review of The Last Folk Hero: A True Story of Race and Art, Power and Profit by Andrew Dietz http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa4081/is_200603/ai_n17184448

YouTube videos:

The Quilter’s of Gee’s Bend, Alabama Clip 1 – 1 ½-minute YouTube video – Quiltmaker Revil Mosely of Gee's Bend, Alabama, talks about how she got started quilting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLxIGZNLt_Q

The Quilter’s of Gee’s Bend, Alabama Clip 2 – 30 second-minute YouTube video – Loretta Pettway of Gee's Bend, Ala., talks about her community's internationally acclaimed quiltmaking.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvNLX3xRSDs

The Quilter’s of Gee’s Bend, Alabama Clip 3 – 40-second YouTube video - Louisiana Bendolph talks about how quiltmaking is inherited in the celebrated community of Gee's Bend
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72kMuLX2uCQ

The Quilter’s of Gee’s Bend, Alabama Clip 4 – 30-second YouTube video – Matriarch quiltmaker Mary Lee Bendolph explains how the women of Gee's Bend, Ala., never thought of their beautiful quilts as works of art.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BxGvFxSjYE

Year of Alabama Arts – Gee’s Bend Quilters – 30-second YouTube video – The beautiful quilts of Gee's Bend, Ala., speak a language all their own. To learn more about these incredible women and Alabama's many other creative talents.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdpOkLdtM50